182 



MEDICAL BOTANY. 



C. alba. 

 1. Petals and stamens. 2. Style. 



3. Seed. 4. Berry. 



Description. — A tree of considerable size, with a stem of from 10 to 50 feet in height, 

 very straight and upright, and branched only near the top. The branches are erect, not 



spreading, and furnished 

 F 'g- "• with petiolated leaves, which 



are irregularly alternate, ob- 

 long, obtuse, entire, of a 

 dark-green colour, coriace- 

 ous, and shining. The bark 

 is whitish. The flowers, 

 which grow at the extremi- 

 ties of the branches in clus- 

 ters, are of a violet colour, 

 and are seldom fully ex- 

 panded. The calyx is 5- 

 leaved, and persistent ; the 

 sepals are roundish, con- 

 cave, smooth, and membra- 

 nous. The petals are much 

 longer than the sepals, ob- 

 long, concave, erect, two 

 somewhat narrower than 

 the others. The stamens 

 are monadelphous, forming 

 an urceolate tube, to the 

 outer side of which the anthers adhere. The ovary is superior, ovate, 3-celled, bearing 

 a cylindrical style, with three convex, blunt stigmas. The fruit is an oblong, fleshy, 

 smooth, black berry, which is 3, or by abortion, 1-celled, and 1 — 2-seeded. The seeds 

 are exalbuminous, with linear cotyledons. 



The Canella is common in most of the West India Islands, and in South 

 America. Every part of it is aromatic ; and when it is in flower, the per- 

 fume is perceived at a considerable distance. The flowers retain much of 

 their odour when dried ; and if they be moistened with warm water, the scent 

 becomes very powerful, approaching that of musk. The leaves have some- 

 what the smell of those of the bay. The fruit, which is not unlike, both in 

 taste and odour, that of the sassafras, is a favourite food of the wild 

 pigeons in Jamaica, and imparts a peculiar taste to their flesh, which is much 

 admired by epicures. 



The bark of the Canella, as found in the shops, is partly in quilled pieces, 

 which are of a whitish-yellow colour, or in flat fragments, which are thicker, 

 and rather darker. The smellis very aromatic, the taste also aromatic, 

 more like that of the clove than the cinnamon, warm, pungent, and some- 

 what bitter. It gives out its virtues to alcohol, and partly to water; but the 

 infusion, though bitter, has very little aroma. An analysis of it by Petroz 

 and Robinet, shows that it contains volatile oil, resin, bitter extractive, ca- 

 nellin, gum, &c. It owes its properties to the three first of these constituents, 

 principally to the oil, which is often used to adulterate oil of cloves. The 

 canellin is a saccharine substance, which is very analogous to, if not iden- 

 tical with mannite. 



Medical Properties, fyc. — On account of its aromatic qualities, Canella is 

 employed to cover the taste of several disagreeable-tasted articles of the Ma- 

 teria Medica, and enters into the composition of a well-known and popular 

 purgative, the Hiera picra (Pulvis aloes cum canella); added to the tincture 

 or infusion of senna, it covers the nauseous taste of those articles, renders 

 them more grateful to the stomach, and prevents them from griping. It is 

 seldom used alone ; though from its stimulating and aromatic properties, it 

 might be useful where remedies of this character were indicated. It appears 

 more useful as a condiment than as a medicine ; for Swartz states that it 



